It takes Makefiles, Webpack, Babel, Transpiling, Flowtype, and a couple more things to get a JavaScript application running. With so many things to get up and running in JS, one can get overwhelmed quickly. However, it doesn’t have to be this way. Dive into Jesse Hallett’s piece ‘The Lost Art of the Makefile’ before you start your next JavaScript project. Especially if you want to learn when to stick with Webpack, why JS needs a build step, and a solid intro and practical use case for the Makefile.